1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a lid that is designed to be attached to the opened tops of a variety of different size food-packaging boxes. The lid is designed to fit over the opened box top with or without an opened hermetic bag containing the food product inside the box being held open by the lid. The lid is provided with a cap closure that can be opened when it is desired to dispense the food product contained in the packaging box and bag and can be closed to preserve the food product.
2. Description of the Related Art
Food products such as breakfast cereals, crackers and snack foods have long been packaged in hermetically sealed bags that are contained in cardboard boxes. Perhaps the most familiar food product contained in a sealed bag in a cardboard box is breakfast cereal.
Breakfast cereals are offered to consumers in a variety of different package sizes. In opening a new package of breakfast cereal the box is typically opened by pulling apart and folding back four flaps at the top of the box. The hermetically sealed bag in the box is then opened at the top of the bag. After the desired amount of cereal is dispensed from the package the bag is usually folded over or rolled up to reseal the bag. The flaps of the box top are folded over and a tab on one of the larger box flaps is inserted into a slot or under an edge indentation in the opposite larger box flap to close the box. Each time it is desired to dispense a certain amount of the breakfast cereal from the package it is necessary to pull apart and fold back the four box flaps, unroll or unfold the top of the bag in the box before dispensing the desired amount of cereal, fold or roll up the top of the bag after the desired amount of cereal has been dispensed and then fold over the box flaps engaging the flap tab and flap slot or flap tab and flap edge indentation to close the box.
The above steps taken to open and close the packaging of breakfast cereal can at times become tedious. What would overcome this problem is a lid that could be attached to the opened top of the breakfast cereal box where the lid has a cap that is easily opened when it is desired to dispense an amount of cereal from the box and closed after the amount of cereal has been dispensed. However, as stated above, breakfast cereal packaging comes in a variety of different sizes. The boxes employed in packaging breakfast cereals are typically rectangular in shape. The box tops of the different size boxes are defined by pairs of opposite side panels of the boxes that have short lengths and pairs of opposite front and rear panels of the boxes that have longer lengths than the side panels. The dimensions of the opposite front and rear panels of the different sizes of breakfast cereal boxes differ substantially. The dimensions of the opposite side panels of the different sizes of breakfast cereal boxes are not significantly different when compared to the differences in lengths of the front and rear panels. Thus, to provide a removable lid that could be removably attached to the open top of a breakfast cereal box to facilitate dispensing cereal from the box through the lid and then closing the lid after the desired amount of cereal was dispensed would require a separate lid dimensioned to fit the opened tops of the various different sizes of breakfast cereal boxes.